Runn vs Productive

Runn is a planning tool that keeps forecast and timesheet hours on one screen, while Productive is an agency suite that carries a booking all the way to an invoice. Runn bills per resource seat from 20 seats and has no permanent free plan. Productive prices per user, offers a 14-day trial and puts its top tier behind a conversation. The choice depends on whether you want a scheduler beside your finance tools or one system that replaces several. Runn is registered in New Zealand and Productive is a Delaware company, and neither has a free plan.

Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.

Both are reviewed in full in our resource management ranking: Runn and Productive.

1. 01

   How you get in the door

   Runn offers a 30-day trial of Standard without a credit card, while the Lite trial goes through its success team and the Advanced trial through sales. Productive's trial runs 14 days, free, and asks for no card on any plan. Neither lists a permanent free plan. Runn gives longer to test, but Productive does not make you ask a person for the trial you want, so the lighter path to trying is a close call. Runn is the longer self-serve window.

   Depends on the buyer

2. 02

   Seat counting and the 20-seat floor

   Runn charges per resource seat, meaning a person being planned rather than a login, and billing starts at 20 resource seats, with volume discounts from 100 seats. That suits a mid-sized services firm and shuts out a team of eight. Productive prices per user and mentions a minimum of 10 user seats only for wire transfer on annual plans. For small teams paying by card, Productive's entry condition is lighter. Teams under ten people will feel this most, because the floor is a hard condition.

   Edge: Productive

3. 03

   Timesheets and the actuals loop

   Runn adds timesheets from its Standard tier, priced at eleven dollars per resource seat per month, so a forecast can update as real hours arrive. Productive includes time tracking, expense management and reporting from Essential, the cheapest tier, and adds billable time approvals on Professional. On the pages we read, Productive offers time capture lower in its plans, while Runn is built more narrowly around the comparison itself. Time capture is a basic need, so the cheaper entry matters for smaller firms.

   Edge: Productive

4. 04

   Money from budget to invoice

   Productive covers budgeting from Essential, adds invoicing integrations, recurring budgets and rate cards on Professional, and revenue forecasting, overhead calculation and subsidiaries on Ultimate. Runn's Lite tier includes rate cards and budgets, and our notes say its financial depth stops at rates and simple margins. If finance wants margin per project without exports, Productive reaches much further, at the cost of adopting more than a scheduler. The Runn tiers above Lite also add integrations and an API, which finance teams often ask for.

   Edge: Productive

5. 05

   What each does badly

   Our notes call Runn's project management shallow, and it is not meant to run a project or a finance system. Productive's weakness is the opposite: it overlaps with an accounting package, and using it only for scheduling means paying for a suite. Its accounting integration also starts on Professional. Runn is the more honest narrow tool, so a buyer who wants exactly that and nothing else does better there. A team that already owns accounting and project tools should weigh that overlap carefully.

   Edge: Runn

6. 06

   Registered home and assurance

   Runn Fast Limited trades as Runn and is registered in Wellington, New Zealand, and its pricing page states SOC 2 certification and GDPR alignment. Productive was founded in 2014, calls itself self-funded and profitable, and names The Productive Company, Inc., a Delaware company, as the entity providing the services. Neither is European. Nothing on the pages we read states where either one hosts customer data. Do not treat the New Zealand versus Delaware difference as a hosting statement, because the pages are silent on location.

   Depends on the buyer

Does Runn keep working if my team has fewer than twenty people?

Its billing starts at 20 resource seats, so a smaller team would pay for seats it does not use. The pricing page lists Lite at seven dollars and Standard at eleven dollars per resource seat per month. Volume discounts only begin from 100 seats.

Can Productive stand in for my accounting package?

It handles budgets, time, expenses and invoices, and an invoicing integration arrives on the Professional tier. Our notes warn that companies keeping billing elsewhere end up reconciling two versions of revenue. Ultimate adds revenue forecasting and overhead calculation but is quoted on request.

Which one lets me try before I talk to sales?

Both do for the main tiers: Runn gives 30 days of Standard and Productive gives 14 days with no card. Runn's Advanced trial needs contact with sales. Productive's Ultimate tier is also a conversation.

• Runn pricing page: Lite and Standard seat prices, Standard trial, timesheets on Standard, SOC 2 statement.
• Runn privacy page: registered company in Wellington, New Zealand.
• Productive pricing page: tier contents from Essential to Ultimate, 14-day trial, wire transfer minimum.
• Productive privacy policy: Delaware legal entity providing the service.